World War II

Semester 2 – Day 156

Assign WWII Project

German Path to War

• Germany needed more land to support a larger population• Set its sights to the Soviet

Union

First Steps

•1935 – created new air force•Began a military draft•1936 – Hitler sent troops to

the Rhineland

New Alliances

• Mussolini• Germany and Italy sent troops to Spain• Rome-Berlin Axis• Germany and Japan signed the Anti-

Comintern Pact

Union with Austria

• Anschluss, union with Austria

Demands and Appeasement

• Sudentenland, area in northwestern Czechoslovakia

• Munich Conference – did not object to Hitler’s plan, but rather met all his demands

Great Britain and France React

• Hitler thought Western democracies were weak and would not react

• Invaded and took control of Bohemia and Moravia

• Controlled Slovakia• Hitler began to demand the Polish port of

Danzig, Britain offered to protect Poland

• France and Britain began negotiations with Joseph Stalin to contain Nazi aggression

Hitler and the Soviets

• Hitler made agreement with Stalin• Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact• Hitler offered Stalin east Poland and the Baltic

States• Hitler then invaded Poland

Japanese Path to War

• Japanese seized Manchuria for natural resources

• Japan withdrew from League of Nations for condemning them

War with China

• China tried to appease Japan by allowing them to control north China

• Chiang Kai-shek united with Communists to fight the Japanese

• Japanese seized capital Nanjing

New Asian Order

• Comprised of Japan, Manchuria and China• Wanted control of Soviet Siberia• Demanded resources from French Indochina• US threatened economic sanctions (oil and

scrap iron)• Decided on surprise attack on US

Germany Sparks a New War in Europe

• Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact• Hitler attacked Poland• France and Great Britain declared war on Germany• Blitzkrieg – “lightening war”; used fast moving

airplanes and tanks followed by massive military infantry forces; surprise

• Stalin occupies Poland• Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia fell quickly• Finland fought – winter weather helped the Finns• Soviets defeated the Finns (outnumbered)• “Phony war” for months no fighting between British, French

and Germans• Hitler suddenly attacked Denmark and Norway

Fall of France

• Attacked through France, Luxembourg and Belgium (Ardennes)

• Allied forces trapped; retreated to beaches of Dunkirk

• Escaped across the English Channel• Paris fell• Charles de Gaulle – set up gov’t in exile in London

and focused on reconquering France

Battle of Britain

The Mediterranean and Eastern Front

Regular Assignment: Create a chart of events leading to the siege of Moscow

• Create a flow chart tracing events in the Mediterranean and on the Eastern Front leading to the siege of Moscow

US Aids its Allied• US Neutrality Acts: made it illegal to sell arms or lend money

to nations at war• Lend-Lease Act: president could lend or lease arms and other

supplies to any country vital to the US• Atlantic Charter – free trade among nations and the right of

people to choose their own government• U-boat fired on US ship; Roosevelt ordered navy commanders

to shoot German submarines

Honors Assignment

Japanese Aggression German Aggression

Create a chart listing examples of Japanese aggression and German aggression prior to the outbreak of WWII.